Local Agents Run A Tight Ship To Stay Afloat

Rising Costs, Competition Make Job Tough

As the cost of operating a ship line rises and competition within the maritime industry increases, shipping agents say they are working harder to stay afloat.

"The industry requires a lot more now than it did in the old days," said Gerald Parks, president of Norfolk-based Capes Shipping Agencies Co. Inc.

Overbuilding of fleets prompted many owners to reduce freight rates in order to fill their cargo holds. Those lower rates cut into the agent's fee.

"There's been an increase in competition within the agency business as there has been in the shipping trade," said Wilson Browning, president of Norfolk-based W.J. Browning Co. Inc.

Many independent agencies are seeing stiff competition from major shippng agencies with greater resources and from the shipping lines themselves.

Some of those lines have found it more cost efficient to open branch offices in their ports of call rather than contract with a local company, say local agents.

Shipping agents like Parks and Browning book and receive cargo and arrange for cargo to be loaded and unloaded.

Agents also usually cater to the needs of the crew, such as arranging for medical treatment, overseeing crew changes and clearing foreign crews through the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

"It seems complicated, but our people know their job," Vito Piraino, with New York-based Containership Agency Inc., said from his Norfolk port office.

"We take care of all the captain's wishes and wants," said James Provo, senior vice president with Norfolk-based T. Parker Host Inc.

Hampton Roads' shipping agencies, which number about 35, also bridge the gap between vessels and government regulatory agencies and local port authorities.

"When they send their ship here, they know they've got someone that they can rely on, that's honest and will take care of his things," said David Wible, executive vice president at the Host agency.

Those things include multi-million dollar cargos, ships and equipment. And in an industry where it may cost from $10,000 to $25,000 a day to keep a vessel afloat - time is money.

"It's like a taxi meter out there and that thing is clicking away," Wible said.

"If the ship is late in berth because we didn't make the right call or Customs wasn't alerted and wouldn't let the ship in, that's a thousand dollars an hour being wasted."

Prompted by the intense competition, many agents study industry trends to stay afloat.

"We've got to be on our toes. Very, very alert and aggressive," Wible said.

"We have to be attuned to the economies of other countries and be able to anticipate where the sales will come from."

Many of the Hampton Roads agencies' business sails trade routes to North Europe, the Mediterranean and the Far East.

To survive, a ship agency has to have a strong ship line on each of those trade routes, Wible said.

Technological changes, such as automation and containerization, made the shipper and shipping agent's jobs easier, but not without cost.

"There were a lot of hidden costs the people didn't anticipate," said T. Parker Host Jr., whose father founded the Host agency in 1923.

Those hidden costs included the high cost of containers and their repair.

Local agencies are especially important in an era where many vessels are foreign-registered or carry foreign crews. Because of the language and culture barrier, they need local agents to translate regulations and coordinate local operations.

"Because I'm Korean I don't know the American system, but the agents know everything," said the captain of Amoco Oil Co.'s "Yorktown Sea," docked recently at the Amoco refinery on the York River.

Nearly 85 percent of the commercial cargo ships calling in Hampton Roads last year flew foreign flags. Ten years ago foreign-registered ships represented about 70 percent of the commercial cargo ships calling on the ports.

Changes in the industry have left some agents longing for yesteryear.

"The romance of shipping has disappeared," Host said from his office overlooking the Elizabeth River.

"You used to walk down the piers many years ago and smell the cargo, licorice, Turkish tobacco..."

There's also less time for contact with captains and crews.

"Years ago the ships would be in port two or three days and you'd have a chance to get to know the captain. Now the ships are in and out in a matter of hours," Wible said.